


A Dance of Wind and Sky

by HazelGatoya



Series: Dimitri Will Live on the Golden Deer Route if I Have to Drag Him to Redemption Kicking and Screaming [1]
Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: But then he's really never okay, Dimitri is Not Okay, F/M, Felix would actually be an amazing dancer, First major ship of Three Houses and they CAN'T SUPPORT, Golden Deer specialize in bows?, I blame Mekkah and his wyvern brigade, Me figuring out Petra and Felix's school days, Part one of this nonsense, Petra and Athena her wyvern are great, This is basically context for a later fic, WYVERNS ALL THE WAY, What is my life XD, nah man
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-16
Updated: 2019-09-16
Packaged: 2020-10-20 05:22:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,425
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20669999
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HazelGatoya/pseuds/HazelGatoya
Summary: Felix Hugo Fraldarius goes Golden Deer and deals with the consequences accordingly. Petra Macneary does the same.The next chapter will come in May of 2022.





	A Dance of Wind and Sky

**Author's Note:**

> School days! Hope you enjoy haha.

Felix stepped onto the yellow carpet of the Golden Deer headquarters, and Professor Byleth looked up from the stack of papers on his desk, lips twitching into a tired smile. Briefly, but the expression was there as he gestured for Felix to enter the room fully. Felix did so, coming closer to the desk. "Afternoon, Professor. You're looking a tad bit under the weather."

"I'm feeling that way too, but there are papers to be graded." Byleth shook his head slightly, smile completely gone into his usual neutral expression now. "Not sure what brought this on, but I've just been tired since the month started. That doesn't mean I can't do simple tasks, but if you're here to ask for a sparring session, I'm afraid I'm going to have to decline."

"It's a good thing that's not what I wanted to ask, then." Felix placed a hand on the desk, eyes flicking to the papers briefly, catching the name "Leonie" before turning his attention back to the professor. "You mentioned once that it would be easier to help me improve my techniques if I was in your class. Was that an offer?"

Byleth blinked slowly, arching an eyebrow. "It was. Are you interested?"

"I am now, yes." Felix nodded. "Professor Hanneman and you have both told me to broaden my horizons, and you're the one that didn't sound like a hypocrite. Besides, the Blue Lions have been a right glum bunch ever since the Battle of the Eagle and Lion. Losing stings."

"So you came to the victorious team." An amused smile flickered on the professor's face, and he gave a slight nod, flipping through a few papers that weren't covered in other people's handwriting. "Very well. I'll talk to Hanneman and arrange your transfer. You'll be open to the subjects I suggest to you, our mission this month is investigating an odd happenstance in Remire Village, drills for the Golden Deer are at 6:30 sharp, and you'll be seated next to Petra in the back left desk."

"Understood." Felix bowed in gratitude. "I hope I don't regret this."

"Oh," Byleth chuckled. "I don't think you will."

-

"You're certain about this?" 

Felix sighed, turning to level a glare at Sylvain. "If I wasn't certain, would I be doing it?" 

"I... yeah, that's fair." Sylvain shrugged, bringing his hands up behind his head. "You're that taken with the professor, huh? Or is this something else?"

"I will learn more in the Golden Deer than in the Blue Lions. That's the simple facts of it."

Sylvain was silent for a moment, his brown eyes softening a bit. "Dimitri said that you're welcome to come back whenever you feel like you want to. He blames himself for this, you know."

"He blames himself for everything, and that is the problem," Felix scoffed with a slight shake of his head. "I couldn't care less what he thinks."

"Okay, okay. Just saying. The Kingdom still needs you."

"I'm not turning my back on the Kingdom."

"Nor am I going to try to convince him to," another voice interrupted, and both boys jumped slightly, turning to see the yellow cape and slightly darker skin of the approaching Golden Deer house leader. Claude gave them both an easy smile, hand on one hip. "You lot are so serious! Just because we'll take care of him like one of our own doesn't mean we plan to steal him away to the Leicester Alliance entirely. Same deal with Petra. Be bad for everyone if we kept her."

Sylvain actually laughed at that, the seriousness fading away from his expression entirely. "True enough. We're all just terribly competitive in the Blue Lions is all. I'll talk to Dimitri again."

"I've noticed." Felix had to hand it to Claude- there was no dryness in his tone whatsoever. "He's still even slightly part of your house, it's not like anything has changed except for his classes and missions."

"Fair enough." Sylvain raised his hands in surrender, still chuckling. "Fair enough. I relinquish my friend to you."

"I'm not yours to relinquish..." Felix grumbled, which only caused the insufferable dastard to keep laughing and Claude's grin to grow.

-

"Are all of the missions for the Golden Deer this... interesting?" he asked Petra when she landed beside him, striking down another rabid villager with her ax.

"They are always giving our professor the hardest ones," she replied, looking over her shoulder to meet his eyes while her wyvern lifted her back into the air. "Because he is a... the best fighter and commander out of the three. But this one is the worst of all that I have been with."

This one would be difficult to top. Villagers losing their minds and becoming beasts, a nearly inhuman mage shouting orders, the Death Knight on the other side of the field... though the small mage Lysithea seemed to be giving him a run for his money. Leonie and Lorenz had each taken a side on the battlefield with their mounts, doing damage control. Jeralt was doing his utmost to protect all those who hadn't been infected with whatever the villagers that were rampaging had while the professor cut down mysteriously cloaked men left and right. Claude and Hilda rained arrows from the sky, Ignatz slipped in and out of the field as best he could, and Raphael sent people flying with only his fists while holy magic poured from Marianne and Flayn like a fountain. The Golden Deer class was formidable, but the sheer horror of what they had to do here was still present. No one was enjoying it. That much was clear to see.

-

"You want me to _what?_"

"Did I not clearly state that if you wanted to join my class, you would have to be open to my suggestions?" Professor Byleth's arms were crossed, and his tone was matter-of-fact, as if what he was suggesting wasn't toeing the line of ludicrous. "I was thinking of just having Hilda enter since she would enjoy it, but when I looked up what a dancer actually is and how they have changed the tides in several historic battles, I realized that I had to give the White Heron Cup a lot of thought. I know you think of yourself as a solo fighter, but I do believe that this is the best class for you."

"A dancer," Felix replied flatly, continuing to stare at the professor. "I thought you were training me as a mage?"

"I need you to be able to use both swords and magic, and that's what the dancer class will allow you to do. Now come on, I'm sure you've had lessons before, but I want to see how well they've stuck."

"I don't think this is-"

"This is a _great _idea. No complaining."

Felix didn't complain out loud again, but after three hours of footwork and poring over historically inspiring movements, he was beginning to wish that Professor Byleth would come down with whatever he'd had last month again- because he had FAR too much energy without it. Especially when Petra walked in and saw them practicing, cautiously asking a question if all Fodlanese dances were so awkward and stilted.

If Felix screamed into his pillow in frustration that night, that was no one's business but his own. Neither was the fact that he kept practicing in secret because this happened to be hard enough to be worth his time.

-

"It is still very awkward and stilted, what you are doing."

"Hi, Petra." Felix dropped to the flats of his feet, moving to stretch his arms above his head, looking around to see her standing just outside the training ground with an axe in one hand. "It's very rude to watch someone practicing dancing- or so I've been told."

"You don't seem to mind, and I just got here," she replied, amusement clear on her face. "It is late, though. The professor keeps telling me I... should not stay up so far into the night, training. Neither should you."

"Says the person who keeps telling me that my dancing is stilted." Felix rolled his shoulders back.

"It's getting to be less so. You truly want to win in order to help on the battlefield and that is likely much more than the other two want." She approached him easily, still smiling. "I do not see them training late at night besides."

"Most people aren't out at this hour, which is why I am," Felix sighed, looking away and waving away her hand as she reached out to him.

"Mm, yes. Though I think that Bernie and Hubert may have seen you dancing a few times. No one sleeps in the Black Eagles except Lindhart."

"Oh _gods._"

"Speaking of Lindhart, I do sit next to you in class, and you look about ready to nap as he does half the time-"

"I get it, I get it." Felix raised his hands in defeat, frowning. "I'll walk back to the dorms with you."

"I am glad you see my way," she chuckled, and he rolled his eyes, but walked back with her in blessed silence.

-

"I can't believe you won!" Sylvain clapped him on the back, and Felix rolled his eyes, but he couldn't help the smile that twitched at his lips as he clutched his certification. "Ingrid's still kind of huffy about it, haha." 

"I am _not,_" Ingrid exclaimed, stepping into the hall with them before she also broke into a grin. "Dorothea certainly is, though. Professor Manuela is pouting, too. _No bias towards her own house_." She snorted. "What a load of hogwash."

"Still, Shamir and Alois judged fairly, and they chose Felix." Sylvain grinned. "We should all go out to dinner, unless the Deer have claimed you for the occasion."

"Petra and Claude did already offer..."

"Oh, that's no trouble, they can come too. Claude and Dimitri can distract each other, because he's definitely going to want to come."

"Why is Claude being distracted?" Petra asked as she stepped into the hall.

"He's not," Ingrid sighed. "Sylvain's just being silly. Though we were all thinking of going out to dinner together, do you want to come?"

The princess smiled. "I would be liking that greatly. Felix worked very hard for this and I want to be part of the congratulations."

Felix eyed her. "You can't tell them about the dance practices."

Her smile turned into a grin. "My lips are sealed."

"Then you can come." 

"I have an object- OOOOF." Felix elbowed Sylvain in the stomach, and both of the girls laughed. "I will- haaah- get what you're... swearing her to secrecy... out of you eventually," the redhead threatened, bent double.

"Perhaps when you stop wheezing," Felix muttered, discreetly rotating one of his aching ankles. "You're trying very hard to make me change my mind about having dinner with you."

"Ingrid- _huff-_ quick! Find Claude and Dimitri before he changes his mind!"

-

"Lookie who we've got joining you two," Claude chuckled, gently ushering Ashe into the wyvern yard.

"Hello," Petra greeted the silver-haired archer while Felix gave a curt nod. "You are in the Deer now too."

"Yes, I think that I will learn a lot here." Ashe smiled a bit awkwardly at Felix and less so at Petra, which made sense. Felix had never gotten along with those who were so disgustingly devoted to chivalry. "Though apparently I'll be spending most of my time with Ignatz and Raphael."

"You'll like them," Felix replied, reaching up to scratch Petra's wyvern's muzzle. Athena blinked slowly at him. "You and Ignatz are a lot alike."

"Full of books and nimble fingers?" Petra asked, causing Claude to laugh and Ashe to flush slightly, stammering a protest about his thieving days. But it was all good-natured. The kid would be just fine among the other Golden Deer, likely more so than the Blue Lions.

-

"You are not wearing your outfit."

Felix turned his head slightly to see Petra peering around the pillar he was leaning against, a faint smile playing about her lips. "I don't feel like it would be appropriate for this occasion."

"Hmm. There is not much difference in what dance moves you used to... um... receive the opportunity to train as a dancer," she replied carefully, coming around the pillar entirely so that they were standing together, watching the ballroom move around them. So many colors, so much noise. "Nor what you use on the field, though you move more naturally out there."

"I move like a fighter out there, same as I always have, just more exaggerated," Felix sighed. "I think the traditional dance of Fodlan is supposed to be ridiculous so that people can get a laugh out of it." 

"That is one way to motivate people. It is different at home." Petra lifted a hand to him in invitation. "Perhaps... I could show you? Outside the crowd? If your feet are not still sore."

He blinked, but took her outstretched hand for the first time in a long while. "My feet haven't been sore in weeks, Petra." 

She just smiled, pulling him out of the crowded halls and out into the cool night air, away from the music. "Things are much... wilder? Yes, wilder, back home," she told him eagerly, the torchlight flickering in her violet eyes and over her tattooed skin. "Dancing is much like fighting. You do not _think _the steps, you feel them. You are good at that on the field and you were good at that in the contest, that is why you won I think."

"Are you saying that Brigid's dances-"

"Brigin dances," she corrected, pulling him into the steps of a waltz as they spoke. "Our word is Brigin." 

"Brigin," he repeated quietly.

There was no more talking after that, just dancing to a beat that only they could hear, stumbling over each other and picking up right where they left off afterwards. _When?_ Felix wondered, as their hands touched after a clap and they pulled each other into a whirlwind twirl. _When did I grow so fond of you?_

Had it been the moment that she had smiled in welcome as a person who understood what it was like to be in a class they knew nothing about even better than he did? Or had it been the moment she'd helped him up onto a wyvern for sky watch, assuring him that Claude had to teach her too in her broken Fodlanese. Was it when he watched her enthusiastically throwing herself into everything she did, as a girl with all the same hunger as the professor and more?

Whenever it had started... he couldn't find it in him to even think of regretting that it all culminated into this night under the stars, lifting her off of the ground by her waist and watching her braided hair fly as they simply moved to the beat of each other's movements.

-

Two days later, he remembered who they all were again and why he'd had his doubts when Claude suggested a class reunion five years into the distant future.

The rain clouds poured their tears, all of the wyverns keened angrily to the open air, and there were five bodies scattered across the ground. Ashe had his mouth covered, staring in abject horror. Leonie was sobbing openly, the rest of the students looked stricken except for Claude and Petra, who gently tapped their wyverns into submission and began combing the grounds suspiciously for any more would-be assassins, moving a small circle around their teacher, who, despite even _his_ best efforts to stop Monica, was curled around the body of his father. Felix, clutching his sash and the hilt of his sword that were progressively getting more soaked, moved forward and began doing the same as the other two.

-

Professor Byleth didn't leave his room for three days. 

Well, that was an overstatement, Felix supposed. He'd come out for the funeral, looking so broken and damned _empty_ that Felix wished he'd stayed in that room. The archbishop and Flayn moved to lay hands of comfort on him and he'd twitched away badly enough that even they had backed off. Seteth stayed next to him the entire time as a show of support and walked with him all the way back to his room, the entire Golden Deer class trailing after close enough to hear their teacher slam the door when he returned to his self-imposed exile. 

Claude had sighed, put on a grim smile and assured everyone that he'd talk to the professor eventually. Everyone had murmured their agreement, and they dispersed. 

The Black Eagles, Ferdinand in particular, were talking to Petra again. So Felix went to the training grounds, watching the boar destroy training dummies. Even after Professor Byleth came out of isolation and Felix saw him and Claude quietly discussing a worn book or him talking to all the students again with a slightly strained expression, Dimitri didn't relent on the stuffed creatures. If anything, he was getting more brutal. "Careful," Felix warned. "You're dangerously close to showing your true face."

Dimitri turned, slowly exhaling, a wild look in his blue eyes. "...I overheard something I should not have," he replied tersely. "You'd think our enemy would be more careful."

Felix arched an eyebrow, but he got no more explanation than that. He pulled away from the training grounds, watching the knights leave on their hunts, and wondered if being here was making the boar's condition worse. Lady Rhea was no different went it came to the hunt of those who wronged her. 

"It would be a shame if we were invaded," Professor Byleth said softly when he wandered into a conversation Felix was having with Sylvain, and Felix nodded, glad that though he could see the desire for revenge burning deep within the professor's red-rimmed dark blue eyes, the man could still be reasonable.

-

"Solon's been found," Claude said, and down the rabbit-hole they went again, weapons being thrown on, school uniforms stripped for war clothes. Wyverns taken out of their pens for the three who rode them, Lorenz and Leonie mounting their horses. 

"Be careful," Sylvain told him and Ashe, clapping them each on the shoulder. "We'll defend Garreg Mach in your absence. Don't do anything stupid. We have a promise, remember?"

"I remember," Felix replied- he would never forget that vow, no matter how much Sylvain annoyed him on any given day.

"She'll be there," Dimitri told him quietly just before he joined the rest, going so far as to catch his wrist despite how Felix stiffened. 

This was new. The prince usually respected his boundaries. "Who?"

"Kronya. The woman who killed Jeralt. She's a likely a weakling who can't stand her own ground outside of assassination, but still... be careful."

Felix didn't think to ask anything before Dimitri released his wrist and was already back down the hall. "Felix!" Petra called, and he hurried out, joining the march to the sealed forest, their professor, Claude and Hilda at the head of them all, quiet fury burning in all of their eyes. 

The woman _was_ there, and her name _was_ Kronya, and _that _was disturbing on several levels. Felix danced and slashed through the enemy though, not allowing the fear to show. For once he felt like dancing on the field was liberating.

_Who are you people?_ He asked silently when the professor chased a fleeing Kronya out of sight.

_Why are you doing this?_ He asked when the darkness took the professor and Solon gloated before snapping at Claude when the house leader and Flayn firmly denied that such a thing could keep their teacher away.

_How does Dimitri _know _you, and why are you all so fascinated with giving a simple mercenary more power?_ He asked when Professor Byleth cut his way out of what Solon called the void, going after the mage with the fury of a thousand suns.

"It's over," Ashe said quietly when they were trekking back to the monastery, the unconscious professor slumped against the neck of Claude's wyvern. 

"...You do not think so."

Felix squeezed his eyes shut, but he knew Ashe hadn't heard, and he and Petra were in the back anyways as she led Athena forward on foot. He let her take his hand, their fingers entwining.

"It's never over when you think you've won," he whispered back, the words ash in his mouth.

-

Archbishop Rhea was ecstatic over the change to the professor's hair and eyes. He was only asleep for a day before getting up again, good as new if still obviously depressed and distracted. Less distracted than he'd been the month before, but still. 

"We're to go to the Holy Tomb for a ceremony," he told the class, smiling faintly like an adult telling a child they should be excited about something fussy. "Seiros was apparently accompanied by warriors for her ceremony, and you all qualify as my loyalest companions at this point."

"Glad to hear it, Teach," Claude replied easily, and the rest of the Golden Deer clamored their agreement. Ashe smiled, and Petra gave a small nod while Felix merely made eye contact- and from the way Byleth's smile grew more sincere, that was enough.

"What was Ferdinand so insistent on talking to you about last month?" Felix asked Petra during the lecture. 

"Foolish things," she replied with a slight shake of her head. "Saying I could go home if I wished, because the monastery is not safe. I am staying here."

Felix studied her in silence for a moment. There was a history behind that he didn't know, he could tell. Petra caught the look and fiddled with her braid. "Perhaps one day I explain more," she muttered. "But not today."

They listened to the lecture after that and watched a conversation between Dedue and Dimitri. "Someone needs to hurry up and cage the wild boar," Felix muttered to her when Dimitri outright snapped at the Duscan. "He's on edge, more than the rest of us are."

"He does not think that it is over either," Petra hummed softly. "He does act much like a wild beast now, but is that really all that you should be calling him?"

"I can call him nothing else," he replied tersely, and the conversation was over again.

-

The ceremony went wrong. 

Professor Byleth sat upon the throne he seemed to know well, and though him sitting there seemed... right, to everyone present, the Archbishop seemed unsatisfied. She murmured to herself, and the professor's eyes narrowed at her just slightly, before there was an interruption.

The Flame Emperor, for the first time since Remire. Felix had known it wasn't over, and it was a good thing they had all come in fully armed as they waged war for the third month in a row against these people who had done nothing but disturb the peace.

The _woman_ who had done nothing but disturb the peace. Claude shot off her mask, then lowered his bow in shock, silence echoing in the tomb before he almost snarled. "Edelgard? Is this some sick joke?"

"So the end has come..." was her only murmur in response before she was cornered by a seething Archbishop and confused but also angry professor and was forced to warp away via her servant.

Rhea stormed from the tomb, the class following meekly underneath her wrath, Claude talking to the professor as they walked, Felix only catching the tail end of their conversation. "I just hope there's still time," Claude was saying grimly. "I have this strange feeling... that history is being written. That an age of anarchy is upon us. Let's hope I'm mistaken."

-

Dimitri's roar of rage and practical destruction of his quarters when the news about Edelgard came out was only the first sign of many that Claude's intuition was probably right. The Black Eagles shivered in corners of the monastery, and the other two houses and the Church of Seiros prepared for war. Edelgard was coming to Garreg Mach, taking down the center of Fodlan and likely everyone with it. Weapons were sharpened, training was doubled, defenses were shored up. Mounts were fitted with every bit of armor possible. Everything that could possibly be done, they did.

There were no uniforms to be seen. Anyone who could fight was constantly in their equipment for battle, and those who could not fight were evacuated. 

"Do you still plan to stay?" he asked Petra.

"I do not plan to ever return to the Empire," she replied. "Edelgard has betrayed all of us. If I return home, it will be to protect it from her and the Empire." She looked up at him, dead serious. "We will speak after the attack."

"In that case, you must survive."

"I will not die." Her eyes narrowed. "And neither will you."

-

Neither of them died. None of Garreg Mach's students died, mostly due to the professor and the great white dragon that had appeared at the last minute's last stands, and the rest of it was Claude and Seteth ordering a retreat and convincing Sylvain and Dedue to physically drag Dimitri away from the front lines. "We can't stay here!" Seteth called, grief and pain etched across his face. "Everyone, return to your own kingdoms and shore up your own defenses. Edelgard must not spread further into Fodlan."

"Felix, Ashe." Sylvain looked to them, brown eyes wide while Dimitri trembled in Dedue's arms.

"Yes, I'm coming with you," Ashe replied. "I must look after Lonato's lands and make sure they are not taken."

Felix looked back and nodded before looking to Petra. "Do you think that Brigid is safe for now?"

"I do," she replied firmly. "We shall see in the future, but..." she turned to Claude. "My place is in the Kingdom for now."

"Got it." Claude nodded firmly. "I'll do my best to keep in touch, all I ask is that you survive. All three of you."

"Yeah, no dying for any of you," Hilda agreed. "We're all going to make it out of this mess."

Felix nodded and desperately hoped that it wasn't a lie. They all turned their backs on the burning monastery, and walked their separate ways. He did see the Black Eagle students moving back towards it, and Petra closed her eyes and kept her wyvern walking beside the Blue Lions.

He supposed he shouldn't be thinking of them that way anymore. There were no more classes. 

Only three different nations in an all-out war.


End file.
